Dr Nigel Chaffey, Course Leader: Environmental Science
I studied botany at University College, Swansea, and spent my PhD years at the University of Durham (UK) studying structure-function relationships in grass leaves, concentrating on the role of the grass ligule. After a period of postdoctoral study in electron microscopy of plants at Durham, I spent several years as a Chartered Accountant. In 1994 I was rescued from this and returned to science to study the cell biology of wood formation in trees at the University of Reading/IACR-Long Ashton Research Station. After 3 years there I spent a most interesting year pursuing those studies in Sweden, followed by a further 3 years consolidating that work back at Long Ashton Research Station.
Aside from my teaching interests in 'plant biology', 'plants and people', and marine biology, I have specialist research interests in structure-function relationships in plants, UK intertidal seaweed biodiversity and distribution, and public understanding of science ('communicating the plant biology' message).
I am also the News Editor for the international plant science journal Annals of Botany. My plant-based media news items appear monthly in the journal (and are freely-accessible by non-subscribers), and regularly feature on the journal's blog at http://aobblog.com/category/news/plant-cuttings/ (should you be interested in reading them...).
